This Peppermint Mousse Black Bottom Pie is THE pie you need to make for your next Christmas dinner. It has chocolate and peppermint, it's creamy and decadent, and will make your holiday pie dreams come true.
½recipe Magpie Dough for Flaky Piecrust(recipe follows), chilled overnight
4ounces(120 grams) semisweet chocolate
2 ½cupswhole milkdivided
¾cup(150 grams) granulated sugar
¼cup(30 grams) cornstarch
½teaspoonfine salt
4large egg yolks
2tablespoonsunsalted butter
½teaspoonvanilla extract
½teaspoonpeppermint extract
1 ¼teaspoonsunflavored powdered gelatin
1cupheavy cream
Chocolate shavings or crushed peppermint candiesfor serving
Instructions
Lightly flour a smooth work surface and a rolling pin.
Take a chilled disk of dough out of the fridge. Give it a couple of firm squeezes, then unwrap it and set it on the floured work surface.
Set the pin crosswise on the dough and press down firmly, making a nice deep channel across the full width of the disk. Turn the disk 180 degrees and repeat, making a second indentation, forming a plus sign.
Use your rolling pin to press down each of the wedges, turning the dough 45 degrees each time. This will give you the beginnings of a thick circle.
Now, rolling from the center outward and rotating the dough a quarter turn to maintain a circular shape, roll the dough out to a 13-inch circle with an even thickness of ¼ inch.
Set your 9-inch (23-cm) pie pan alongside the circle of dough. Brush off any loose flour, carefully fold the dough circle in half, transfer it to the pan, and unfold.
At this point, the dough will be lying across rather than fitted into the pan. Now, without stretching the dough, set the dough down into the pan so that it is flush up against the sides and bottom. The best way to do this is to gingerly lift the dough and gently shift it around so that it settles into the pan bit by bit. Use a very light touch to help cozy it in.
To flute the edge, fold the overhang under to form a 1-inch wall that rests on the lip of the pan with the seam slightly below the pan’s top edge. Flute the edge of the crust at about 1-inch intervals, pressing from the inside with the knuckle of your index finger while supporting on the outside with the thumb and index fingers of your opposite hand.
Transfer the crust to the refrigerator to chill while you make your filling or to the freezer to prepare it for prebaking. Alternatively, at this point the crust can be covered tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 3 days or double-wrapped and frozen for up to 2 months (defrost overnight in the refrigerator before filling and baking or prebaking, or at room temperature for 30 minutes).
To prebake the shell, chill the panned, fluted piecrust in the freezer until firm, 15 to 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375°F with the rack in the center (in the future I may try pre-baking my crust in the lower third of the oven instead, to allow the bottom to brown faster than the edges). Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. Cut an additional 13×13-inch square of parchment.
Set the pan on the lined baking sheet. Use a fork to prick all over the bottom and sides, 15 to 20 times. This will help release steam and prevent the bottom of the crust from puffing up during baking. Set the square of parchment in the pie shell and gently smooth it into place, pleating as needed to fit it up against the bottom and sides of the shell. The edges of the paper will project beyond the rim of the pan; just leave them standing straight up.
Fill the shell to the top with dried beans. Slide the baking sheet into the oven and bake the shell for 25 minutes.
Set out a wire rack and alongside it, a mixing bowl. Take the baking sheet out of the oven and set it on the rack; bring together the points of the parchment, and carefully lift out the beans and transfer them to the bowl.
Slide the baking sheet back into the oven and bake the crust another 10 minutes (until golden brown and fully baked–mine baked twice as long, an extra 20 minutes until the bottom of the crust was light golden). Cool completely on a wire rack.
To make the black bottom layer, chop the chocolate and set it aside in a medium bowl.
Heat 2 ¼ cups of the milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until steaming (do not boil). Keep warm over very low heat.
Whisk together the sugar. cornstarch, and salt in a medium bowl. Add the egg yolks and continue whisking until the mixture is smooth and pale. Immediately measure out 1 cup of the hot milk and slowly whisk it into the yolk mixture, pouring in a thin stream and whisking constantly until combined.
Turn the heat under the saucepan back up to medium and slowly add the tempered yolks, pouring in a thin stream and whisking constantly. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens to a pudding consistency and a few large bubbles rise to the surface, about 5 minutes. Once the bubbles appear, continue cooking the custard, whisking constantly, for 2 more minutes.
Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the butter and the vanilla and peppermint extracts, mixing until smooth.
Measure out 1 cup of the hot custard, pour it over the chocolate, and let stand for 2 minutes, then whisk together until smooth and creamy. Pour the chocolate custard into the prepared pie shell, spreading evenly. Transfer the pan to the refrigerator to chill while you make the peppermint mousse.
To make the mousse layer, sprinkle the gelatin onto the surface of the remaining ¼ cup milk and let soften 5 minutes.
Transfer the remaining custard from the saucepan to a medium bowl and whisk in the bloomed gelatin. Refrigerate until cool, 15 to 20 minutes, whisking at 5-minute intervals to prevent the edges from setting.
In a separate, clean, dry bowl, whip the cream to medium peaks. Fold the whipped cream into the cooled custard gelatin mixture in thirds, mixing the last third just until no white streaks remain.
Retrieve the pie shell from the refrigerator. Spoon the mousse on top of the chocolate custard layer and smooth the top. Cover with plastic wrap and chill the pie overnight (at least 8 hours and up to 3 days) before slicing and serving.
Serve cold, garnished with chocolate shavings or crushed peppermint candies.